How does scoring work in Brilliant Assessments?

Scoring and Ratings are core concepts in Brilliant Assessments. They determine how feedback text, charts, and results are generated, even when scores are not visible to respondents. Scores are calculated first, and Ratings are derived from those scores.

How scores are calculated

Each question has a Maximum Score, and each answer has a score value. Scores are automatically aggregated at the following levels:

• Question
• Subsection
• Section
• Response (the overall assessment)

Scores can be calculated in two ways:

• Percentage score. Total answer score divided by total maximum score for answered questions.
• Average score (Likert scoring). Total answer score divided by the number of questions answered.

How ratings are applied

Each Rating Scale maps a range of scores to a Rating (for example, 0-40 = Beginner, 41-70 = Intermediate, 71-100 = Expert). Ratings are then used to drive:

• Rating colors in charts.
• Conditional or rating-based text in reports.
• Certification outcomes.
• Conditional content displayed to respondents.

Questions with a Maximum Score of zero are excluded from scoring. For Multiple Choice (multiple selection) questions, answer scores accumulate up to the Maximum Score configured on the question.

For full details, see Configuring Assessment Scoring and Managing Ratings and Rating Scales.